EyeOpener (U.S. TV program)

EyeOpener
Genre	Morning news program
Created by	Lee Abrams
Presented by	Laila Muhammad; Oliver Tull; Kevin Roth; Neeha Curtis; Hilary Kennedy; Allyn Hoang; Courtenay DeHoff
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
Production
Executive producer(s)	Raymond J. Brune (2011–2012); Justin Allen (2012–2016); Chris Myers (2016-2017) [1]
Production location(s)	Chicago, Illinois (2011–2012); Dallas, Texas (2012–2017)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	180 minutes; (weekday edition); 60 minutes; (weekend editions)
Production company(s)	Tribune Broadcasting
Release
Original network	Syndication
Picture format	480i (SDTV),; 720p (HDTV)
Original release	May 9, 2011 – June 21, 2017
External links
	Website

Last updated March 31, 2019

EyeOpener is an American syndicated morning news program produced by Tribune Broadcasting that premiered on May 9, 2011 and ended on June 21, 2017.^[2] The program utilized a local/national hybrid format billed as a "provocative and unpredictable" combination of general and political news, health, entertainment, technology and opinion segments, mixed with humor and variety elements;^[3] stations carrying the program are given the option to provide news, weather and traffic inserts focusing on their local market each half-hour. At the show's conclusion, it was hosted by Laila Muhammad, Oliver Tull, Neeha Curtis, Hilary Kennedy, Allyn Hoang, Courtenay DeHoff and Kevin Roth, who was also the show's meteorologist.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Broadcasting syndication is the license to broadcast television programs and radio programs by multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less of a practice in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates; although less common, shows can be syndicated internationally. The three main types of syndication are "first-run syndication", which is programming that is broadcast for the first time as a syndicated show and is made specifically to sell directly into syndication; "off-network syndication", which is the licensing of a program that was originally run on network TV or in some cases, first-run syndication ; and "public broadcasting syndication".

Breakfast television or morning show is a type of infotainment television program, which broadcasts live in the morning. Often hosted by a small team of hosts, these types of programs are typically targeted at the combined demographic of people getting ready for work and school, and stay-at-home adults and parents.

History

The idea for the program was conceived by Tribune Company chief innovation officer Lee Abrams (who resigned in October 2010). In the spring of 2011, Tribune Broadcasting developed a concept for a morning news program intended for stations owned by the company that did not maintain existing news departments. The program, which was given the title EyeOpener, would incorporate a local/national format (with the intent to syndicate the program to other markets) similar to that of morning news programs on the major broadcast television networks, with three-minute-long national segments conducted in a more free-form style.^[4] Steve Charlier, senior vice president of news at Tribune Broadcasting, described the program as a platform in which "comedy meets national news," designed to distinguish itself and stations carrying the program by offering a morning show that stands out from its traditionally formatted competitors.^[5]

Tribune Media Company is an American conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Lee Abrams is an American media executive who has held a number of posts for large and influential companies, and is generally credited with developing the Album Oriented Rock format first heard at WQDR Raleigh and thereafter employed by hundreds of radio stations across the country, as well as co-founding XM Satellite Radio.

A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of terrestrial networks. Many early television networks evolved from earlier radio networks.

The program debuted as a test run on May 9, 2011 on Tribune-owned CW affiliate KIAH in Houston, Texas – which maintained a news department, but only carried twice-daily evening newscasts – replacing syndicated programs and infomercials in the two-hour timeslot (from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.); the program's national segments – originally hosted by Kirby O'Connell, Sean Dowling and Adam Lee Campbell – were initially produced in studio facilities at the Tribune Tower in Chicago, which also serves as the corporate headquarters for the Tribune Company.^[6]^[7] The program was originally hosted by Kirby O’Connell, Sean Dowling (who served as news anchor) and Adam Lee Campbell (who handled consumer, technology and pop culture-related reports),^[4] with the hosts appearing in more casual attire.^[8] In addition to news, health and parenting advice segments, the program initially also featured more irreverent and humorous features including a how-to segment conducted by a "hunky handyman" character named "Wrench," a commentary segment by Roger Lodge and a social media segment by "Monsignor Jebediah O'Flaherty," a character used as part of a segment lampooning celebrity tweets.^[9]

The CW Television Network is an American English-language free-to-air television network that is operated by the CW Network, LLC, a limited liability joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network (UPN); and AT&T, whose WarnerMedia subsidiary is the parent company of Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB. The network's name is an abbreviation derived from the first letters of the names of its two parent corporations.

KIAH, virtual channel 39, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company. KIAH's studios are located adjacent to the Westpark Tollway on the southwest side of Houston, and its transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated Fort Bend County. The station is also available on Comcast Xfinity and AT&T U-verse channel 5.

Houston is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States, with a census-estimated population of 2.312 million in 2017. It is the most populous city in the Southern United States and on the Gulf Coast of the United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth most populous metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States and the second most populous in Texas after the Dallas-Fort Worth MSA. With a total area of 627 square miles (1,620 km²), Houston is the eighth most expansive city in the United States. It is the largest city in the United States by total area, whose government is similarly not consolidated with that of a county or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.

On October 31, 2011, production of the program's national segments was relocated to the studios of Tribune's Dallas CW affiliate, KDAF; the program largely overhauled its hosting staff with the relocation, with co-hosts Ellen Fox and Douglas Caballero, and sole holdover Dowling.^[10]^[11] The program concurrently began airing on KDAF and was also syndicated to fellow Tribune station, MyNetworkTV affiliate WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, later expanding to two of their sister stations – CW affiliates KRCW-TV in Portland and WSFL-TV in Miami (all three of which, unlike KDAF and KIAH, did not produce their own news programming) on January 2, 2012.^[12] These stations were chosen by Tribune for the initial national rollout of EyeOpener as they, as Charlier noted, "need to be growth markets" that also have a population skewing toward the program's 18-49 target audience, with plans to eventually syndicate the program to stations not owned by Tribune Broadcasting. By July 2012, in the Dallas, Philadelphia and Houston markets, EyeOpener saw an increase in viewers in the 25-54 demographic year-to-year in the program's scheduled time periods, whereas viewership in that demographic declined in Miami and Portland.^[5]

KDAF, virtual channel 33, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States and serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company. KDAF's studios are located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas, and its transmitter is located south of Belt Line Road in Cedar Hill.

MyNetworkTV, is an American television network/syndication service that is owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations division, and distributed through the syndication structure of 20th Television. MyNetworkTV began operations on September 5, 2006 with an initial affiliate lineup covering about 96% of the country, most of which consisted of stations that were former affiliates of The WB and UPN that did not join the successor of those two networks, The CW. Under the ownership structure of 21st Century Fox, the service is incorporated as a subsidiary company known as Master Distribution Service, Inc.

WPHL-TV, virtual and UHF digital channel 17, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by Tribune Broadcasting, the station maintains studios in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia; its transmitter is located on the Roxborough tower farm.

In September 2012, EyeOpener began airing on MyNetworkTV affiliates KXNW in Fort Smith, Arkansas (which Tribune earlier acquired in November 2011) and WWMB in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. EyeOpener expanded to weekends on September 20, 2014, with the premiere of an hour-long edition of Saturday and Sunday mornings on KDAF and KIAH.

KXNW MyNetworkTV affiliate in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

KXNW, virtual channel 34, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, United States, serving Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas River Valley. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company, as part of a duopoly with Fort Smith-licensed CBS affiliate KFSM-TV. The two stations share studios on North 13th Street in downtown Fort Smith; KXNW's transmitter is located on Humphrey Mountain near Garfield.

Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 86,209. With an estimated population of 88,037 in 2017, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents that encompasses the Arkansas counties of Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian, and the Oklahoma counties of Le Flore and Sequoyah.

WWMB is a dual CW/CW+-affiliated television station licensed to Florence, South Carolina, United States, serving the Pee Dee and Grand Strand regions of South Carolina. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on virtual and UHF channel 21 from a transmitter on Pee Dee Church Road in Floydale.

Replacement by Morning Dose

On June 15, 2017, Tribune Broadcasting announced the launch of Morning Dose, a two-hour social media-focused morning show produced in partnership with Chicago-based digital content branding agency Dose, which will replace EyeOpener on the five Tribune stations carrying the latter program (KDAF, KIAH, WDCW, KRCW and WPHL), along with the group's Miami CW affiliate, WSFL-TV, on June 29. Hosted by Melissa Rycroft and Gary Striewski, with news segments anchored by Laila Muhammad (the only announced holdover from EyeOpener), the program featured a mix of news stories selected by Dose through its social storytelling and scientific trend methodology to "[showcase] the content and advancing the stories that will drive the day’s social conversation.”^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16] On September 6, 2018, Tribune announced that Morning Dose would be cancelled effective October 19.^[17]

Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in Illinois, as well as, the third most populous city in the United States. With an estimated population of 2,716,450 (2017), it is the most populous city in the Midwest. Chicago is the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area, often referred to as "Chicagoland", and the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the United States. The metropolitan area, at nearly 10 million people, is the third-largest in the United States, and the fourth largest in North America and the third largest metropolitan area in the world by land area.

WDCW, virtual channel 50, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to the American capital city of Washington, District of Columbia. Owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company, WDCW maintains studios on Wisconsin Avenue in the Glover Park section of Washington, and it shares transmitter facilities with Arlington, Virginia-licensed Univision-owned station WFDC-DT in the Tenleytown section of Washington's northwest quadrant.

Miami, officially the City of Miami, is the cultural, economic and financial center of South Florida. Miami is the seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. The city covers an area of about 56.6 square miles (147 km²), between the Everglades to the west and Biscayne Bay on the east; with a 2017 estimated population of 463,347, Miami is the sixth most densely populated major city in the United States. The Miami metropolitan area is home to 6.1 million people and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Miami's metro area is the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States and fourth-largest urban area in the U.S. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the United States with over 300 high-rises, 80 of which stand taller than 400 feet.

Affiliates

In August 2016, the Eye Opener website listed five stations, all of which are owned by Tribune Broadcasting, that air the program each weekday:^[18]

WPHL-TV/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (6:00-8:00 a.m. ET)
WDCW/Washington, D.C. (6:00-8:00 a.m. ET)
KDAF/Dallas, Texas (5:00-8:00 a.m. CT)
KIAH/Houston, Texas (5:00-8:00 a.m. CT)
KRCW-TV/Portland, Oregon (6:00-8:00 a.m. PT)

Related Research Articles

The WB Television Network was an American television network that was first launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of AT&T's WarnerMedia and the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Company, with the former acting as controlling partner. The network principally aired programs targeting teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 34, with the exception of its weekday daytime and Saturday morning program block, Kids' WB, which was geared toward children ages 7 to 12.

KWGN-TV, virtual channel 2, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Denver, Colorado, United States. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company, as part of a duopoly with Fox affiliate KDVR, channel 31. The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's Speer neighborhood ; KWGN's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain, near Golden. The station's signal is relayed on three low-power translators: K14JZ-D in Peetz, K49EX-D in Anton and K31IQ-D in Sterling.

KDFI, virtual channel 27, is a MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States and serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation, as part of a duopoly with Fox owned-and-operated station KDFW, also licensed to Dallas. The two stations share studios on North Griffin Street in downtown Dallas; KDFI's transmitter is located south of Belt Line Road in Cedar Hill. On cable, KDFI is available on channel 7 on most providers in the Metroplex.

KTXH, virtual channel 20, branded on-air as My 20 Vision, is a MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated television station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation, as part of a duopoly with Fox owned-and-operated station KRIV. The two stations share studios on Southwest Freeway in Houston ; KTXH's transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County.

KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company. KTLA's studios are located at the Sunset Bronson Studios at 5800 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

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WSFL-TV, virtual channel 39, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Miami, Florida, United States and also serving Fort Lauderdale. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company. WSFL-TV's studios are located on East Las Olas Boulevard and Southeast 2nd Street in Fort Lauderdale ; its transmitter is located between Northwest 210th and 207th Streets in Andover. On cable, the station is carried on Comcast Xfinity channels 11 and 435.

KRCW-TV CW television affiliate in Salem, Oregon, United States

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References

↑ "Chris Myers To Executive Produce 'Eye Opener,'" from TVNewsCheck, 8/5/2016
↑ "Shut Eye at Tribune". FTVLive. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
↑ Mike McGuff (May 2, 2011). "KIAH 39 to start morning news with Eye Opener; Mia Gradney returns". MikeMcGuff.com. McGuff Media, LLC.
1 2 Andrew Gauthier (May 3, 2011). "Following 'NewsFix' Debut, KIAH Set to Launch Prefab Morning Show". TVSpy . Mediabistro.com . Retrieved April 21, 2015.
1 2 Diana Marszalek (July 17, 2012). "Tribune Stations Mix It Up in The Morning". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
↑ "Two familiar names are back in the news game". Houston Chronicle . Hearst Corporation. May 5, 2011.
↑ "Channel 39 adds morning news show". Houston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. May 4, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
↑ Ed Bark (November 1, 2011). "Live from CW33 studios, Eye Opener gets its early morning game on". Uncle Barky's Bytes. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
↑ Phil Rosenthal (May 3, 2011). "Tribune TV station in Houston gets early morning 'Eye Opener'". Chicago Tribune . Tribune Publishing . Retrieved April 22, 2015.
↑ Jihad Hassan Muhammad; Elena Washington (August 1, 2012). "CW33's Eye Opener TV: Keeping it Real". Dallas Weekly . African-American News & Information Consortium. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
↑ Ed Bark (August 31, 2011). "CW33 hires new meteorologist, ramps up for early morning show on two levels". Uncle Barky's Bytes.
↑ "WSFL Airing a Morning Show". SFLTV. January 24, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
↑ "Tribune Broadcasting Partners with Dose to Launch "morning dose." A Data- Driven Weekday Morning News Show" (Press release). Tribune Broadcasting. June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
↑ Mark K. Miller (June 15, 2017). "Tribune To Launch Syndicated 'Morning Dose'". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
↑ Diana Marszalek (June 15, 2017). "Tribune Launching Social-Driven Morning Show in Six Markets". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
↑ Stephanie Tsoflias Siegel (June 15, 2017). "Tribune Launches New Social Media Driven Morning Show". TVSpy . Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved June 16, 2017.
↑ Philpot, Robert (September 6, 2018). "A popular DFW morning anchor changed stations this year. Her new show has been axed". Fort Worth Star-Telegram . Retrieved September 6, 2018.
↑ "What is Eye Opener?" via EyeOpenerTV.com (accessed 8/8/2016)

External links

Official website

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[1] "Chris Myers To Executive Produce 'Eye Opener,'" from TVNewsCheck, 8/5/2016

[2] "Shut Eye at Tribune". FTVLive. Retrieved 2017-06-29.

[EyeOpener-3] Mike McGuff (May 2, 2011). "KIAH 39 to start morning news with Eye Opener; Mia Gradney returns". MikeMcGuff.com. McGuff Media, LLC.

[prefab-4] 1 2 Andrew Gauthier (May 3, 2011). "Following 'NewsFix' Debut, KIAH Set to Launch Prefab Morning Show". TVSpy . Mediabistro.com . Retrieved April 21, 2015.

[Mixing-5] 1 2 Diana Marszalek (July 17, 2012). "Tribune Stations Mix It Up in The Morning". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved April 22, 2015.

[6] "Two familiar names are back in the news game". Houston Chronicle . Hearst Corporation. May 5, 2011.

[7] "Channel 39 adds morning news show". Houston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. May 4, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2015.

[gameon-8] Ed Bark (November 1, 2011). "Live from CW33 studios, Eye Opener gets its early morning game on". Uncle Barky's Bytes. Retrieved April 22, 2015.

[9] Phil Rosenthal (May 3, 2011). "Tribune TV station in Houston gets early morning 'Eye Opener'". Chicago Tribune . Tribune Publishing . Retrieved April 22, 2015.

[10] Jihad Hassan Muhammad; Elena Washington (August 1, 2012). "CW33's Eye Opener TV: Keeping it Real". Dallas Weekly . African-American News & Information Consortium. Retrieved April 22, 2015.

[EyeOpener2-11] Ed Bark (August 31, 2011). "CW33 hires new meteorologist, ramps up for early morning show on two levels". Uncle Barky's Bytes.

[12] "WSFL Airing a Morning Show". SFLTV. January 24, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2015.

[13] "Tribune Broadcasting Partners with Dose to Launch "morning dose." A Data- Driven Weekday Morning News Show" (Press release). Tribune Broadcasting. June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.

[14] Mark K. Miller (June 15, 2017). "Tribune To Launch Syndicated 'Morning Dose'". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved June 16, 2017.

[15] Diana Marszalek (June 15, 2017). "Tribune Launching Social-Driven Morning Show in Six Markets". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Retrieved June 16, 2017.

[16] Stephanie Tsoflias Siegel (June 15, 2017). "Tribune Launches New Social Media Driven Morning Show". TVSpy . Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved June 16, 2017.

[fwst-newsfixcancelled-17] Philpot, Robert (September 6, 2018). "A popular DFW morning anchor changed stations this year. Her new show has been axed". Fort Worth Star-Telegram . Retrieved September 6, 2018.

[18] "What is Eye Opener?" via EyeOpenerTV.com (accessed 8/8/2016)